Starting a Data Science Community within a Public Agency

As data science has become more widespread and accessible our team saw an opportunity to begin a more formal practice or community within Metropolitan Water District. Come hear about what this has looked like, what we mean by a data science practice, some lessons learned along the way, and where we are at now.

About Robert Reny

Robert is an Associate Resource Specialist within the Water Resources Management Group at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). At MWD Robert works on projects that involve spatial data including understanding crop water use and landscape area trends in Southern California. Related to this work, the team at MWD is also in the midst cultivating a data science community on the floor. He has a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Engineering from Northern Arizona University and a Master’s of Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) in Environmental Health Science. He previously worked at the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board as a Water Resources Engineer but he left in 2020 to start an Environmental Science and Engineering Doctorate at UCLA.

Agenda

• 8:00am - Doors Open
• 8:30am - Networking
• 9:00am - Speaker Presentations
• 10:00am - End

Location

LA Cleantech Incubator at the La Kretz Innovation Campus
525 S Hewitt St
Los Angeles, CA 90013